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ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDINGS
LIFE Focus
I
LIFE and resource efficiency: Decoupling growth from resource use
EFFENERGY improved the thermal performance of existing buildings
edged as a highly useful tool by beneficiaries. Mr Maes reiterates this and says, “Research and development money at DuPont is very competitive but with the help of LIFE we were able to raise enough financial support to get our project started. Without LIFE’s help the eco-innovations we have introduced to the building market might never have gotten further than the drawing board. The LIFE project helped us overcome the period when we didn’t have an income.” Ulrike Koster from DuPont explains further, “It’s not about creating a new material that will land in an existing market. It’s about creating a new solution with new material landing in a non-existent market. LIFE helped us to define a market strategy for commercialising the initial eco innovation idea of the PCM panel.”
Commercialising PCM Much of the project’s €1.51 million of LIFE co-finance was spent on the prototyping phases for the PCM panels. Most of this money was used by the SME and academic partners from France and Greece that were involved in testing the PCM materials. Notable among this work was the development of new software to determine the specifications of the panel. Without defined specifications the new product would not be able to be adopted by the market. Thanks to the work started under LIFE and continued after-LIFE, in 2010, DuPont made software available for the trade that includes PCM specifications. Building designers and their clients can now check the energy efficiency and thermal comfort of a building that includes the PCM panels. DuPont says this was an
important lesson from the project – think ahead and start work early on determining product specifications.
Overcoming obstacles In addition to the issue of defining specifications, a number of other time-consuming obstacles were overcome by the project, and these offer some useful insights for decision-makers involved in promoting resource efficiency at regional, national and EU levels. For example, EFFERNERGY has shown how building codes can hamper the uptake of PCM panels because “the official methodologies for calculating energy performance do not know PCM yet,” explains Jacques Gilsent, DuPont’s marketing manager. “They know concrete and they know stone, so if you are builder and you want to get the energy efficiency of your building validated you can only use conventional materials.” This issue still represents a serious obstacle to the energy saving benefits of PCMs and only the regulators can change the system. As each Member State has its own building regulations, each Member State has the power to make the changes needed for promoting more energy efficient building materials. “The main driver for changes in the industry continues to be the official rules and legislation,” stresses Mr. Gilsent. Thus, a review of building regulations and certification systems by decision-makers could encourage the industry to change its behaviour. Wim Maes believes this “is in the interest of everyone who wants to change the energy bill of the EU”. As part of any such review, the role of subsidies could be considered.
Other options for increasing uptake of this type of eco-innovation lay with the insurance certification systems that are required for building materials. Before builders can start a construction project they normally need to get insurance to cover their work and insurance companies seek assurances that the products being used in a building are safe. All new products need to be certified for insurance purposes and so the energy saving benefits available from PCM panels could also be accelerated by help from the product certification bodies. DuPont have found this certification process slow and expensive. “It’s been difficult for us as a large company, so imagine how challenging it might be for smaller companies with similarly good eco-innovation ideas,” says Ms. Koster.
In conclusion Examining the EFFERNERGY project highlights the facts that energy storage is a core part of energy efficiency, and that PCM is an excellent solution for energy storage in modern building methodologies. In 10 years time we might expect that this approach could be much more common, and this may be in part attributed to the risk finance provided by LIFE to help DuPont and its partners produce the industry’s first ever user-friendly PCM building panel.
LUXEMBOURG Project number: LIFE06 ENV/L/000121 Title: EFFENERGY - Energy Efficient Building Systems Beneficiary: DuPont Luxembourg Contact: Wim Maes Email: wim.maes@lux.dupont.com Website: http://www.effenergy.dupont.com Period: Dec-2005 to Nov-2008 Total budget: e5 610 000 LIFE contribution: e1 510 000